The Female and athletes of the year recipients at the Foothills Falcons Awards banquet on June 5 were from left, Bethany Hardy, Jocelyn Skrilec, Caitlin Dales, Cody Thompson, Matt Hunter and Trey Kellogg.

Bruce Campbell/OWW

Three for three.

Cody Thompson was named the Grade 12 male athlete of the year at the Foothills Composite High School athletics awards banquet June 5 at the Comp.

Although Thompson had won the Grade 10 and 11 awards in previous years, he was surprised to win in his senior year.

“I thought it would come down to Hunter (Karl) and I,” Thompson said. “I thought he had a good chance to win.”

Thompson was a linebacker on the Foothills Falcons' Tier II provincial finalist football team. He was also a gold medalist at 82kg in high school wrestling.

“Definitely, that was the highlight for me to finally become the provincial champion,” Thompson said.

He had finished third and sixth at 76kg in Grade 10 and 11 respectively.

The biggest disappointment was easy — finishing second in football.

“To work that hard with my family — our team — and to fall short in the final game was disappointing,” Thomson said.

The Falcons lost 28-7 to the Austin O'Brien Crusaders in the final.

Thompson also led the Falcons rugby team and qualified for provincials in the 100m hurdles in track.

He plans to take a year off from school next year.

However, he will wrestle with the U of Dinos club team as well he has been invited to tryout for the Calgary Junior Colts football team.

Karl didn't go away empty-handed.

The Falcons quarterback was named the MVP for high profile football and basketball teams. The third nominee for the Grade 12 athlete of the year award was Noah Wilkie.

If you attended a high school girls sporting event at the Comp, you likely would have seen the Falcons Grade 12 female athlete of the year.

The recipient, Caitlin Dales, was the definition of a student-athlete.

“I was in soccer, basketball, badminton and track,” Dales said.

Dales was the Falcons sixth-woman on the basketball team — coming of the bench when needed.

“With Lauren (Bailey) and Kennedy (Burgess) at guards, they were both really good,” Dales said. “Just being able to contribute was great with me. The highlight was winning league and then zones and going on to provincials.”

Dales was selected the Knights MVP in soccer and badminton. She plans to attend the UBC-Okanagan in the fall where she will study kinesiology.

The Grade 11 male athlete of the year was Matt Hunter. Hunter wrestled, played rugby and was a linebacker for the Falcons. He was the recipient of the Grade 10 male athlete of the year for 2012-13.

“They were all so much fun and coming so close to winning provincials — that's as close as I have ever been,” Hunter said.

His athleticism showed when he took up wrestling for the first time. He would have likely qualified for provincials if a flu bug hadn't forced him to miss the rural provincials.

“I lost a lot of weight and I wouldn't have been strong enough,” Hunter said. “I plan to comeback next year.”

He added he also enjoyed the rugby season after concerns there would be enough players. They went on to the Tier 1 South Central zone final only to lose to rivals HTA Knights.

Jocelyn Skrilec, the Grade 11 female athlete of the year, called going to provincials with the Senior girls basketball team her fondest highlight. She admitted to being nervous when she first started playing with the Grade 12-heavy Falcon squad.

“Fortunately, I played a little bit with them last year, but it was a little awkward to play with them at first,” Skrilec said.

She more than held her own, giving the Falcons valuable minutes.

Skrilec also played Junior girls volleyball and was a member of the track team.

Her goal next year is similar to a lot of Alberta athletes.

“I want to win provincials, like every team does,” Skrilec said.

She also wants to maintain her high-academic standard.

“Being a student-athlete is definitely a struggle to keep everything going, but in the end it is all worth it,” she said.

The Grade 10 male athlete of the year knows all about balance. He made an acrobatic catch off a Hunter Karl pass to score the Falcons lone touchdown in the Tier II provincial football final.

“That was a big play for me for sure,” Kellogg said. “I also got to play some good minutes at provincials in basketball.”

He also competed in track and field, finishing third at zones in the triple jump.

The Grade 10 female athlete of the year had a familiar ring to it.

Bethany Hardy, of the athletic Hardys, was named the Grade 10 female athlete of the year.

“It's very humbling,” Hardy said after receiving the award. “I loved my basketball teams and volleyball teams so much. It was a lot of fun and we did well.”

Hardy was named the MVP for the Falcons Junior girls volleyball team and her hard work led to her being selected as the most improved player on the junior girls basketball team.

The volleyball team finished second at both zones and the Foothills Athletic Council. The basketball team won the FAC.

Bethany's older brothers, Bryce and Chad, had distinguished athletic careers at the Comp.

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